Thursday, October 22, 2009

Democracy Singapore Style.

After returning to Singapore, I watch MM Lee's speech, and felt little comfort on how the middle and lower income people would be able to cope with their lives in Singapore. Wages in the future will remain low, standard of living will increase, and many people will just not afford things they are used to. The government seemed not interested in proposing a solution or even considering a minimum wage system as it would make Singapore "less competitive" and somehow getting foreigners will solve everything.

I would disagree on this on many levels, but since I'm in Singapore, I fear for my freedom if I do out down actual opinions as there is certainly going to be repercussions.

On another note, I came across this article "Adviser over MP raises many questions". I am quite surprised that such an article would appear in mainstream newspapers and not be censored, and the situation is a rather grim one. Imagine a democratic system where you vote for your ministers to over see your rights and concerns, however, the government -- largely not elected due to weird laws and policies, controls the civil service and public departments -- to a degree that your appointed minister does not make decisions for you.

To make things more blunt, I believe the public service, including the police, the law courts and various ministries are controlled by a single party rather than the government, making any form of "new ideas" and "new ways for fairer governing" a form of threat which needs to be snuffed out with maximum force.

The ministers that are in the opposition ward are then simply ridiculed, even when they are elected by people, and not given the opportunity to work with the public department for the people they are serving.

"To press home the point that opposition MPs have no right to manage the LUP, the National Development Minister’s press secretary Lim Yuin Chien said in a reply to Workers’ Party MP for Hougang Low Thia Khiang:
‘Mr Low is mistaken when he cites the ‘will of the people’ expressed in general elections to justify why he should play a leading role in the LUP in Hougang.
‘The will of the people expressed in general elections is to elect a government for the country as a whole; and not to elect separate local governments for each constituency.’
Mr Lim added in his letter to The Straits Times Forum Page: ‘Singapore has a one-level system of government. MPs, whether People’s Action Party or opposition, do not constitute a local government in their constituency.’"

You can choose to vote for opposition, but they are not empowered to do anything and decide on anything. For that is the Singapore way.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Well, there are too many things to be said about Singtel customer service, and I'm not sure how many phone calls and visits it would take to cancel my account.

I have tried calling in August to cancel the account as I was leaving the country, and they told me that my contract was till August 29th. So I put in instructions to cancel on 29th or 30th.

Guess what, I received the bill in September. So I went down to the Singtel store which told me to call billing at 1688 to inform them. At this point I've already paid for August to September, and I was not interested to pay more. They informed me that everything was settled and BILLING WAS A SEPARATE DEPARTMENT.

Does this mean that I need to go to a separate planet for that to happen? Why should I care if billing was done by a separate person, in a separate country or in a parallel universe. It is the same company, and if I call customer service about cancelling a service, it should be cancelled.

I returned to Singapore yesterday and found yet another Singtel bill. There were several calls made and the bills are still being sent to me after several attempts to cancel my service. There are a lot of additional charges now as a result of the failure to cancel the bill. Why is canceling of service so hard and impossible?

I've had bad experience even in purchasing a phone using a Singtel voucher, but now, the bills are raking up, and my service is still not cancelled. I mean what does a person who subscribe the service need to do to cancel the service, and ensure it is cancelled as told by customer service that they WILL do it but actually fail.

If I'm not paying them anymore, is it my fault that customer service failed to cancel my service? Should I start a YouTube channel and a blog just for cancelling my service?

To anyone who is subscribing a new account, please don't use SingTel, because you cannot unsubscribe and cancel the service, and you have to pay even when you have cancelled and not using the line.

Friday, October 16, 2009

I got some drinks and food last night in the Cricket Stadium (on the field itself) and the food was good, and there is beer and Tequila, all's good.

There was battered food, stir fried food, spicy food... Along with Tequila and Beer, it was pretty good.

Then Navin started talking and photos were shared.

The words, Drag (Queen), Boob Tube, Nerd, Fag kept coming out, and when Navin got a little more drunk, Suzanne, Navin's high school friend leaked out more information on Navin.

Navin's Drunk interview (Pt 1)

I was concerned a little concerned when Navin commented (unrecorded but with witnessed) "That is why I should not have childen with you!" I hope he was drunk when he said that, and what was he thinking?? I guess Navin is a fun drunk or you might say, a Fag Drunk...

The evening was fun and went on nicely, and even when we were drunk and beat a red light, the cop that stopped us reeked of alcohol and he let us go.

Alls well until the next morning.

I got Flatulence Constipated Spicy Irritable Bowel Syndrome. (FCSIBS)

Its a condition I have never gotten before! There is much air trapped, and even when the stools are solid, there is a "Spiciness" feeling when it exits. The solid stools are like dangerous projectiles which gets propelled out at high velocity due to the compressed air.

I guess Himaj and Suzanne has found a way to create really dangerous bio-weapons and all we need now is a balloon which we can find at Kandalama in November. Watch out, FCSIBS is coming and hot steaming solid spicy projectiles will fall from the sky!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Instead of having boring poses you are tired off in your travel photos, why not get some posing tips from the Professional.

Although there are many people who are born with this talent, it can be trained and everyone can look good in photos.

Posing is not a "Vain" thing. Calling others vain like Carly Simons is just a way of complaining that you have no talent, and not putting the effort in to look good.

Carly Simons, You're so Vain.

Instead of sitting there and complaining or being jealous, Himal can show you the way to look good in your photos. You do not need to go on a Modeling course, all you need a Himal Posing Guide.

To looks good in photos, it does take hard work and a bit of coaching. Here at Heritance Kandalama, Himal starts his day with the following exercises to ensure he has the right start for the day, and he can look good in photos he is prepared for or even when he is not looking.

Himal Poses, similar to Yoga Poses, will make you look better in Photos.

These are warm up stances that has become a way of life for Himal. If you practice it too, you will also succeed in becoming great in Photos.

Every angle is very important, keep that stance and hold it the and feel the burn!

The stretching everyday will make you flexible and conform to the complex poses that are required for posing.

Do this movements 500 times every morning, and you will look as AWESOME as Himal.

This is just the warm up you need to do every day. Besides that, you need to keep a healthy diet and do lots ofbutt crunches so that you can look fantasticeven from the back.

The following is a Himal Presentation for the 10 basic poses to look good.